Centers | REFIC

REIT Fund

The REIT fund is an exciting opportunity for graduate and undergraduate McCombs School of Business students to engage in an educational, real-world forum on the real estate and asset management industries. The REIT fund was started in 2007 with an initial investment from part of the Real Estate Finance and Investment Center's savings. It operates under the umbrella of the well-established MBA Investment Fund at the McCombs School. The fund is managed by a team of McCombs MBA students supported by McCombs undergraduates and overseen by McCombs finance faculty and an outside advisory board. The REIT Fund is unique in the business school because it gives top McCombs MBA and undergraduate finance majors real-money investment experience in a shared classroom environment.

The McCombs REIT Fund is:

Focused exclusively on U.S.-based REIT securities

Benchmarked against an un-managed, market-weight REIT Index

Managed by a team of five to eight MBA portfolio managers from our Real Estate MBA program

Supported by a team of ten to fourteen undergraduate analysts, competitively selected from McCombs undergraduate finance majors

Fund Overview

Selected MBA Portfolio Managers and undergraduate analysts take a training course covering active portfolio management and fundamental REIT security analysis during the first semester of their year-long commitment to the fund. Students apply their training to the task of constructing a portfolio of US REITs designed to outperform an un-managed, market-weight REIT index, as measured by the Dow Jones U.S. Select REIT index ("the Index"). The REIT Fund presents selected students with learning opportunities designed to integrate their McCombs education with the "real world" experience of managing a portfolio of publicly traded REITs. It provides the students with the relevant academic foundation and introduces them to managing real money in the U.S. public REIT market. The students' exposure to industry professionals (through the fund's soon-to-be-completed Advisory Board and Investment Counselors program) augments their educational experience and promotes ties between McCombs and the business community.

Apply for Fund

Information:

Students apply the fall term of their junior year, or the academic year before graduation.

A faculty committee will review the applications. If you are chosen, you'll have an interview with a committee member.

Final selections for the program will be announced by the beginning of January, when the program begins.

Prerequisites:

You must be classified as a junior before the fall semester of the program begins.

FIN 357, ACC 311, and ACC 312 must be completed prior to the spring term of the program.

FIN 367 shall be completed prior to the program or can be taken concurrently with the fall semester of the program.

Application:

Applications are due on or before October 10th no later than 11:59 PM.

There are five parts to the application. Parts 2-5 are uploaded using the links below, in PDF format only.

Please be advised of the following:

Juana Hardwick is unable to answer any questions regarding the program, applications, or eligibility, as she is only responsible for receiving and tracking applications that are submitted.

If you are interested in both the Financial Analyst Program and the Real Estate Investment Analyst Program please note there is a check box on the application where you can indicate interest in being considered for both programs.

Exceeding the one page limit for any of part 2-5 could invalidate your application.

Sending any additional information not requested could invalidate your application.

Submitting a late application could invalidate your application.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Respond to the following questions in a typed, double-spaced document. Your responses should be only one paragraph for each question, and take up no more than half a page for each or a full-page in total.

Excluding all finance and accounting courses, what has been your favorite course taken as an undergraduate and why?

What is the one finance related experience or extracurricular activity that is most important to you and why?

To save, go to file, save as and please change the type of document from a word file (.doc) to PDF and save the file name as: Last, First (EID) 3 Questions.

Again, the MAXIMUM is one-half page response for each and one page total for both

Part 3:

A current copy of your resume on no more than one page. To save, go to file, save as and please change the type of document from a word file (.doc) to PDF and save the file name as: Last, First (EID) Resume

Part 4:

Typed, double-space Essay A (no more than one page) to the question below. To save, go to file, save as and please change the type of document from a word file (.doc) to PDF and save the file name as: Last, First (EID) Essay A.

A: Personal statement answering the following: Describe any special skills, experiences, and character traits you feel are relevant to the Financial Analyst Program. (for example: Why are you a good candidate for the program?)

Part 5:

Typed, double-spaced Essay B (no more than one page) to the question below. To save, go to file, save as and please change the type of document from a word file (.doc) to PDF and save the file name as: Last, First (EID) Essay B.

B: Current Financial Issue of your choice addressing the following: Address a current financial issue or problem that is interesting to you, and discuss why it is interesting. Consider including a reference at the bottom of the page of an article or professor that spurred your interest in this area.